


Buying Time

by GreenBird



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angry Sex, Canon Compliant, Infidelity, M/M, Manipulation, Post chapter 599, Rough Sex, Sad Ending, hetero relationships are background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 15:29:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6571633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenBird/pseuds/GreenBird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sasuke’s gaze is unwavering, and Naruto knows what he’s being asked for; a trade made in the dark and secluded places Sasuke haunts. A small ransom only he can pay."</p><p>It's a neverending pattern: Sasuke leaves and Naruto brings him home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Buying Time

**Author's Note:**

> Set between chapters 599 and 600, not taking any expansions into thought. Kids are nearly 2.
> 
> This is m/m. Any m/f is implied, not featured.

Buying Time

 

 

It takes two days to find him. Naruto received a missive via Anbu border patrol that that Sasuke crossed within the thirty-mile perimeter of Konoha earlier that week. He'd planned to wait him out, see if he returned on his own, but Sasuke did things at his own pace, and Sakura's eyes were getting sadder with each passing day. She’d visited Naruto in his office, fingers toying with her hair, her sighs deepening as she tried to distract herself with Konoha business. Sarada would accompany her, pretty eyes watchful, looking for a father she never saw. Naruto hated it, so off he went to search.

Being Hokage was more work than he’d planned, but one of the perks was the ability to delegate tasks. Shikamaru, for all his complaining, did very well as a substitute. His staff knew why he would leave for days at a time, they also knew it was an inevitability. Chasing Uchiha Sasuke was part of his legend, after all.

Even Hinata, ever concerned, learned not to ask when Sasuke was involved. Naruto knew she didn't want him to go, what he didn't know was if he would listen to her if she asked him not to.

Sasuke is playing a little harder to find this time around: he isn’t in his usual spots- forgoing the strategic cave and vacant cabin, ignoring a decommissioned watchpost; all places they’ve been before. Naruto dispatches a volley of clones around the outskirts of villages, feeling out their populations, looking for a familiar flame.

On the beginning of the third day, around three in the morning, he finds him.

Sasuke has holed himself up in an old trade post, long abandoned from the war. It is overgrown with plant life and leaning on its supports. Rotting, broken arrows are stuck into the door. It is a little rougher than Sasuke’s usual haunt, and that is worrying.

Naruto sends a friendly burst of chakra, small but noticeable, as a greeting. A gentle thrum answers. It is calm, reserved. He breathes a sigh of relief.

Naruto gently shoulders the door open, making sure to step over the tripline across the threshold and careful of the exploding tag on the door frame. The building is small and dark, but Naruto hears a low utterance, and a small katon lights up an aged iron furnace.

Sasuke is sitting on the floor, back against the old service counter. He's made a bed in front of the furnace, and from the look of how well he has settled into his surroundings, he had camped here a few days.

"This is different." Naruto comments, glancing at the empty glass jars and deflated bags of rice, their contents long since pillaged by mice. “Why can’t you ever hole up in a hot spring?” Sasuke stays silent, and Naruto moves next to him, sitting alongside. Their shoulders touch. "It's been six weeks."

"Has it?" Sasuke murmurs, not bothering to turn his head. His hair is long and mussed from sleep, not dirty, but not kempt. Naruto wonders if Sasuke is going to turn into a wandering hermit in all senses, even aesthetically. He doesn’t think Sasuke can manage the facial hair.

"Sarada asked where you were,” he responds, offering a small smile. Sasuke doesn’t like discussing the kids. “It's amazing they're talking now. Bolt made his first sentence last week, he’s not as sharp as your girl, but still…"

Sasuke moves beside him, makes to get up.

Naruto has his wrist before his back leaves the counter. "Stop,” he whispers, “don’t run on me.”

“What do you want?” He doesn’t sound pleased, but he does sit back again, lets their shoulders bump. Naruto keeps hold of his wrist, gentling the touch. He’s holding Sasuke’s prosthetic with his own. It’s a strangely comforting thought, sharing twin limbs; no matter where Sasuke went, Naruto was his right hand.

“What am I always asking you? I want you to come home."

Sasuke’s voice is quiet. "My work is important."

"Your family is important."

Sasuke laughs: it is a sudden, strange sound. Naruto has been hearing that tight-throated noise too often when they speak. "My family. My wife."

"Yes, your wife,” Naruto bites out, frustrated. “Sakura misses you. Come home."

Sasuke turns to him, his eyes hold a look Naruto is familiar with. They had seen too many things when they were younger. Watched too many horrors, and in some cases, committed them. It’s hard to admit there was damage there, but then again, no one felt their pain quite like each other.

“Come home, Sasuke.”

Naruto knows what comes next.

"I can't."

"You can."

"Make me."

Naruto winces. The edge of Sasuke's voice is rough and raw. If anyone else had heard it, there would be a sword to their necks. No one saw Sasuke when he was weak. No one but Naruto, and he is experienced enough to ignore it.

"Sasuke..." he whispers, on the verge of pleading.

Sasuke is leaning forward, breathing against Naruto’s mouth, his gaze both challenging and demanding. "Make me."

Naruto licks his lips, noticing how the motion was tracked in his partner’s eyes. "If I do, how long will you stay?"

"That depends on you."

Naruto thinks about the slump in Sakura's shoulders, the red bleariness of her eyes. Sasuke never stays for long, but when he does, her face seems to glow. He hates seeing her sad, loathes her tears. She is dear to Naruto; he loves her- and he can’t stand to see her hurt.

Sasuke’s gaze is unwavering, and Naruto knows what he’s being asked for; a trade made in the dark and secluded places Sasuke haunts. A small ransom only he can pay.

Naruto leans in, and gently brushes his lips against Sasuke's. There is an approving hum against his mouth, and he pulls away slowly.

"An hour," Sasuke concedes, eyes lidded.

"Come on, Sasuke..."

"If you want more, give more."

This isn’t the first time they’ve bartered like this. This has been going on ever since Naruto had married, well over two years. Sasuke would leave for a month or two, often on the pretense of research or redemption, and he would return to Konoha’s borders to deliver his findings. They would meet in various, secluded locations, and Naruto would ask for his return to the village. Sometimes he could get a week just for asking. That had been happening less and less. Now, it was more common to pay.

Naruto grunts in frustration and kisses him again, burying his hands in Sasuke's long hair, pulling at his scalp and swiping his tongue across his lips. Sasuke kisses back with interest, his hands busy at the collar of Naruto’s coat, unzipping it to mid-chest and working his fingers into the mesh undershirt.

Naruto barters in rough embraces and searing touches, paying in a currency long denied. He can barely remember how he’s come to this; whoring in exchange for Sasuke’s compliance. He only recalls how painfully ignorant he’d been before the first time Sasuke had pressed against him and demanded touch for time.

They stay together for a while, kisses growing reckless and bruising, more wild. After a particularly hard bite to his lips, Naruto pulls away.

Sasuke's eyes are foggy as he whispers; "One day."

That is an unfair trade and Sasuke knows it. Naruto growls, pulling on Sasuke's haori. "Sasuke..."

Sasuke pushes into him, breath hot against his ear. "Give me more."

Naruto feels a flare of anger burst in his chest and he shoves Sasuke down onto his makeshift bedding. He pushes himself between Sasuke's legs, pinning him.

"You greedy, cheating bastard..."

Sasuke arches against him, parting his legs further, letting Naruto sink into him. His breathing is heavy. "Naruto," he demands, "give me more."

Naruto feels arousal mix with his guilt and frustration. He pulls open Sasuke's haori, the force of it tearing one of the seams. Sasuke makes no move to retaliate and lets himself be exposed. He lays open under Naruto, flayed down the middle and willing to be devoured. He used to worry about leaving marks on Sasuke's chest and back, used to fear Sakura's heartbreak at seeing the telltale signs of infidelity, but Naruto now has the sneaking suspicion that he sees Sasuke naked more often than she ever has. He bites down on his chest, well under his clothing’s cover, sucks a bruise. Sasuke wrestles his jacket, pulling it off of his shoulders and down his arms. The mesh shirt does not survive.

Naruto sits back on his haunches, discarding what's left of his top, leaving only his necklace; a silver chain with his wedding band looped on it. Sasuke follows him up, frantic fingers at the waist of his pants, skinning him alive. He’s always eager to get to him, as if Naruto will flee if he suffers a moment’s pause.

In truth, he's thought about it before, but weighing the morality of the situation versus the reality that Sasuke will not return unless bribed, was a non-question. Life is better with Sasuke in it. He has a wife and child who need him. Naruto has always sworn he'd bring Sasuke back to Konoha, he just didn't imagine this was how he would do it.

He comes back to attention with his pants around his knees, shucked off his hips with practiced ease. Sasuke digs his fingers into his thighs and stares up at him, dark eyes reflecting the sharp flicker from inside the stove. He bows his head, runs his tongue over Naruto’s cock. He shudders at the attention, letting Sasuke's touch rile him up. Even after all this time, it’s still strange to see him so into it. Naruto wonders if Sasuke ever showed Sakura such enthusiasm. He seriously doubts it.

The thought makes him surprisingly angry, and he pushes Sasuke onto his back, holding his shoulders as he hovers over him. They both know that he can get out of the hold if he wants to, but he never tries. It is irking how pliable Sasuke makes himself in these encounters. Naruto doesn’t know what to do with the show of mock submission; Sasuke is the one directing the affair, Naruto is the one bending to his will.

Naruto reaches down to undo the cord holding Sasuke’s hakama in place. He lifts his hips, encouraging the disrobing. Once the cloth is pulled away, Naruto takes a moment to marvel at the white expanse of skin. The body beneath him is nothing like the soft, pretty curves of his wife, but it is familiar. There isn’t a scar Sasuke owns that is alien to him.

Sasuke’s hands come up to his sides, gliding over his ribs and chest, mapping him out. Naruto feels the fingers drift to his collarbone. There is a sudden, harsh pull and the sound of a chain link breaking as his necklace is ripped off. Sasuke tosses it into the dark of the room.

“What the fuck…”

“Don’t,” Sasuke snarls, one hand gripping the back of his neck, pulling Naruto down to him. “Don’t.”

He doesn’t elaborate and bites his way into Naruto’s mouth. Naruto tries to channel his anger into the kiss, and Sasuke replies fervently, relishing the bites that move to his jaw, the harsh canine to his ear.

Their bodies are pressed together, chest to thigh. Naruto groans when Sasuke begins to rock his hips under him, grinding their cocks against each other. He slips a hand between them, fingers encasing both of them as they slide inside his grip. Sasuke bites hard at Naruto’s shoulder, knowing the mark will heal before daybreak. Naruto pushes himself up on his elbow to give them some distance and Sasuke gasps out the answer to his unasked question.  
“One week.”

Naruto pauses. One week? He is naked and grinding against Sasuke, cock in hand; and all he has earned was one week?

Sasuke arches underneath him, eyes flashing in challenge. “More, Naruto.”

“Damn you,” he growls, releasing his hold to shove Sasuke’s thighs apart, tilt his hips upward. Sasuke’s hand disappears into his haori, and comes out with a small vial. Of course he has it on him; this is what he planned from the start.

“You bastard,” Naruto curses, flicking the vial open and spilling its slick contents onto his fingers, “you arrogant prick.” He’s a little harsher than he would normally dare to be, but Sasuke downright writhes at the sensation, mouth open and breathless. Sasuke can handle a little rough treatment, and Naruto isn’t too happy at the moment. He gives a few cursory thrusts, adds another finger just to watch him gasp at the stretch.

He only gives Sasuke a few moments to prepare. Naruto knows he isn’t going to lose his nerve, but the faster this goes, the less time he has to let his guilt trickle in. He is doing what needs to be done, what he's promised to do.  
Sasuke lifts his legs to settle against Naruto’s ribs, but Naruto grabs him by the back of his thighs and pushes his knees up to his chest, squeezing the breath out of him.

At first all he can do is let gravity bring them together, the clench so tight it is hard to move. He can’t believe how hot the body is under him, and ignores the pang of sympathy at the small, swallowed sound that Sasuke makes as he pushes in. After a slow slide Naruto bottoms out, pinning Sasuke to the floor, his legs hitched over Naruto’s shoulders. Sasuke’s fingers stamp bruises into his biceps as he holds on, bearing the stretch.

“Is this what you want?” He growls, rolling his hips hard, harder than he’d dare with anyone else. The sounds he receives in return aren’t unwelcome ones. “Is this it, Sasuke?”

The man under him moves his hips to collide in sync, taking what’s given and returning it twofold. His breath hitches and rasps, but through it he manages to speak.

“More!”

Naruto can’t stand it, how close to desperate he feels at the demand, how familiar it feels, skin and sweat and pain with pleasure. Sasuke’s eyes are spinning red, and his teeth are bore in between a grimace and a snarl. His legs flex, hips lifting to meet him halfway. He’s burning hot, searing his handprints onto Naruto’s skin, but it’s all violent encouragement, all to egg him on.

It should figure they fight like they fuck: brutally and in perfect tandem. Naruto is almost daunted by how well he knows how to play the body under him, how well he can match the right rhythm, find the perfect amount of friction.

Their bodies are sweat-slick and violent, and he’s angry, so furious at Sasuke for playing this game, for knowing how easy it is to make Naruto do whatever he wants. He’s even angrier with himself for falling into it again. They do this every time, and every time he knows he shouldn’t bend, but he does. With Sasuke, he always bends.

The feeling makes him lost for a moment, and Naruto doesn’t notice when the snarls under him turn into gasps, when the bites against his mouth are more tongue than teeth. He comes to with sudden, painful clarity when Sasuke cries out his name, and it’s not in demand or challenge, but intoned with something much more daunting, much more dangerous.

Sasuke’s gaze is heated and lidded and far too intimate. His mouth has fallen soft where it should be a hard line. Naruto is unable to handle it, that lost, open look on a face sculpted to stoicism. He’s not even sure if Sasuke knows how much he’s showing, how raw his expressions are when they’re pressed together like this. Naruto ducks his head down to the crook of Sasuke’s neck, hiding from his naked emotions.

The new position angles them differently, allows Sasuke’s cock extra friction against Naruto’s stomach, and he cries out and tenses, coming between them in a hot rush. The clench of his body becomes unbearable, and Naruto lets a long groan pour out of him as comes inside him, not caring about the obscenity of it. He collapses onto Sasuke, wrung out and suddenly tired, his adrenaline spent. Naruto’s nearly startled by the arms that wind around him.

Sasuke’s heart is a rapid beat against his ribs. Hot, reedy breaths are panted into Naruto’s ear, forming three small syllables, repeated like a mantra, a forbidden chant and Naruto feels suddenly sick with heartache, because he knows, he knows, but he can’t. He can’t say it back. It’s not like that anymore, not for him.

Naruto has a loving wife, the job he was born for and a spirited, wonderful son. He has everything he's wanted. But Sasuke, Sasuke doesn’t want those things. Sasuke wants to run, wants to flee the life he fell into, because Sasuke needs Naruto to chase him. He needs him to hunt him down, plead for his return. He needs to feel valued, feel wanted.

And Naruto does want him, just not in the way Sasuke needs him to.

The breaths against his neck even out: grow deeper and calmer. After a minute, Naruto dares to pull away. He does his best not to look too closely at the dark shadows on Sasuke’s face, not to notice the glimmer of wetness at the corner of his eyes.

They separate with a grimace at the tacky mess between them, and Naruto rolls off, looks about for a way to clean himself up.

There’s a canteen and a towel under a backpack, and Naruto wets himself down, cleaning away the evidence. After he’s done, he tosses the cloth to Sasuke.

Naruto shoulders on his jacket, buckles his pants. He looks like a wreck, but Sasuke is certainly worse off. They dress in the quiet, only interrupted by the lazy pop of embers in the stove.

“A month,” Sasuke offers. Naruto’s well earned time.

A month. Sakura’s birthday is in three weeks. There is a festival he could force Sasuke to attend with her. A month would work. A month was enough for now. “Okay.”

Sasuke is barely dressed, still sitting in the ruins of his bedroll. His hair is a travesty, but his eyes are open, watchful. They catch and hold as Naruto stands over him, not quite triumphant. This is not quite a victory.

In the far corner of the storehouse a small glimmer catches his eye, and Naruto goes to pick it up, the silver chain slips against his fingers. The ring has already gone cold, too long from his skin. He turns it gently in his hand, relieved and guilty at once, but the promise he made to return Sasuke was made long before the promise of the ring.

Naruto slips it back onto his neck, tying the chain in lieu of the now broken clasp. It presses a cold kiss to his collarbone. When he turns back, Sasuke’s eyes are still on him, but they are flat again, their openness long shut.

Naruto knows too well that it won’t return, not until their next barter.

Naruto zips his jacket up, hiding the ring against his bitten skin.

“Come on Sasuke,” he says, toeing the door open. Beyond it, the dawn is growing pink on the horizon. It’ll be early afternoon before they make it back, but Naruto has time, now. “Let’s go home.”

 

 


End file.
